Two Rooms

Still on Thu 8 Nov 2018 Day 3 in Taipei - 6.30 pm - the free for all snacks in the hotel common room.

The hotel common room with free flow self service coffee machine and free for all snacks which are replenished daily.

This was room 1 - the entrance is facing the entrance of the bathroom.

Frosted glass sliding doors for the bathroom.

With windows and mirror.

Two double beds because there were 4 of us.

Basic but clean room.

Each bed has its own bedside unit.

This is how the entrance to almost all buildings in Taipei looks like - with a counter where the security guard sits at. He sits so low that only the top of his head can be seen in this photo.

This is the room that we checked in to rest for just a few hours from 3.30 pm to 9.30 pm but I think we pay the full price for the use of this room.

A smaller room.

With just one big bed. Bye bye room at 9.20 pm.

The check in and check out counter. An old fashion weighing machine to weigh luggage. So we took the MRT to the airport and just sit and rest on the chairs in the airport until boarding our flight back home in the wee hours.

Fri 9 Nov 2018 - 12.30 noon - back and waiting for luggage. Home sweet home and bye forever Taipei!

*** Thursday 9 July 2020 d114 *** 

10.40 am - my portion of takeaway breakfast from a nearby coffee shop - wanton noodles with siew yuk with green chilies. I bought a big portion at MYR 8.50 nett for 2 pax sharing and we just eat directly from the plastic bag.

11 am - continue to eat half of this chee cheong fun (1 roll, 2 slices ccf) with 1 slice of bean curd sheet and 1 okra stuffed with fish paste (ytf). I asked for the brown sauce to be poured directly onto the chee cheong fun because I intended to eat this ccf immediately when back home and I did not want another bag with brown sauce. Two of us shared this pack of ccf that costs MYR 5.50 nett. We also bought century egg, salted egg and minced meat congee for 1 pax for lunch.

Still not comfortable dining in coffee shops seeing that some countries had to lock down certain areas again so had to continue to buy takeaways and continue to practise the 3Cs - avoid crowded places, avoid confined places (go open air places) and avoid close conversations; and 3Ws - wash hands with soap, wear masks and warn oneself to do the following: don't touch other people (no handshakes), cover mouth when cough or sneeze, clean and disinfect common places, stay home as much as possible and seek treatment if one has symptoms.

6.30 pm - my portion of congee.

7 pm - a bowl of home cooked red bean tong sui with 90% red beans and 10% water so it is like eating red bean paste which I like.

Oyster omelette

Still on Thu 8 Nov 2018 Day 3 in Taipei- 5.40 pm - I wanted to eat Oyster Omelette without starchy bits in them and there is an eatery within walking distance (500 m) from the hotel that cooks the oyster omelette this way so this is another must-eat while I am in Taipei.

Close up view - Confirmed no starchy gooey bits in this omelette. Very tasty. Price is TWD 100 (about MYR 15) so I would say that the price is reasonable.

I think these are deep fried oyster spring rolls.

Close up view. We ordered two rolls at TWD 50 (about MYR 7.50) per roll.

We ordered two dishes only because there were only two of us because two chose to still rest in the hotel room.

蚵仔之家 (literal translation is Oyster House). 外傘頂洲 蚵仔之家民生東路店 (Wài sǎn dǐng zhōu hézǐ zhī jiā mínshēng dōnglù diàn - literal translation - Outer Umbrella Ting Chau Oyster House Minsheng East Road Branch)
Address:  No. 33, Section 2, Minsheng East Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 10491

The shop entrance looks very traditional.

Not many people dining there yet because it was just 6 pm, not dinner time.

*** Wednesday 8 July 2020 d113 ***

1 pm - not my lunch of instant noodles with the previous day duck ginger dish bought from Aunty Melon, SS2, PJ and added bok choy. My portion was kept aside for my dinner as I just ate brunch at 12 noon of 1 slice gardenia whole meal bread, 2 slices rainbow sprouted grains bread and one fried egg so on this day, I ate two meals only with a satsuma.

6.30 pm, I ate my portion of lunch for dinner - instant noodles, ginger duck and bok choy.

Yong Kang Beef Noodle

Still on Thu 8 Nov 2018 Day 3 in Taipei - 3 pm - I switched MRT lines to get to my favourite beef noodles eatery in Taipei while everyone went back to the hotel to check into another room to rest. Yong Kang Beef Noodle (永康牛肉麵) - nearest MRT station is Dong Men, take exit 4. I wrote about this eatery for my trips to Taipei in 2014 and 2018.

Address: No. 17, Lane 31, Section 2, Jinshan South Rd, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106.

Ordered takeaway a small portion of noodles with beef shank and beef tendon at TWD 260 (about MYR 38 nett). Many people would say that there are better beef noodles in Taipei at a lower price and I would agree about the price part but not on the taste part because every one has their own preference on the taste. For me, this is it.

This photo was taken at 5 pm: everyone in the room shared this small portion of beef noodle. Very tasty.

After buying the beef noodle, I took the MRT back to Shuang Lian MRT station (our hotel stop) and walked to my favourite ice dessert shop - 雙連圓仔湯 (Shuāng lián yuán zǐ tāng) and reached the shop at 3.44 pm. I wrote about this shop a few times, starting from 2014. I asked my family to join me here but all of them said they were still full so I went to eat alone because when I am in Taipei, I must eat this ice dessert.

My order is always the same - plain shaved ice with no sugar and 3 toppings which must be lotus seeds, yam cubes and boiled peanuts at TWD 100 (about MYR 15). Mmmmm, so delicious, so refreshing and so satisfying.

I can't write many chinese words but I know how to write "without sugar" - 無糖

They have renovated their shop so the shop look a bit different from the photos in 2014.

Shop front - looks different from 2014.

4.30 pm - I walked back to the hotel and on the way back, I bought this pack of coffee - Mandheling and Brazil Blend from Cama Cafe at TWD 300 (about MYR 44) for my friend because I seldom drink coffee.

 

If you can read Chinese, this is for you to read.

*** Tuesday 7 July 2020 d112 *** 

Dine in 5 - Ooops, over ordered for two pax at 11.30 am for an early lunch at Prosperity Bowl, SS2, PJ. All the dishes are on a sharing basis though some dishes are ordered by him and some by me. Food tastes good especially the pumpkin dessert.

His order: 

White Curry mee (photo below) - MYR 9 nett.

Pork balls (small portion - 5 balls - 3jc style pork balls) - MYR 5 nett.

Cold white coffee - MYR 3 nett.

My order:

Curry Chicken (small portion) - MYR 7.50 nett.

Dry mee hoon mixed with hor fun (small portion) - MYR 2.50 nett.

One portion steamed chicken breast meat - MYR 7.50 nett.

Pumpkin dessert with cubes of yam - MYR 4 nett.

White curry mee (MYR 9 nett) with bean curd puffs, cockles, long bean, blood cubes, shredded chicken and beansprout.

I mixed all the curry gravy into my bowl of dry meehoon mixed hor fun noodles. Not spicy in the mouth but spicy in the tummy.

We intended to buy takeaway but after seeing the eatery with only one table occupied, we decided to dine in instead and got carried away and ordered too many dishes for two pax. At 12 noon, more people started to dine in for lunch so we quickly finish all our food and went to buy takeaway for dinner and next day's meals from another shop.

We also bought one portion of steamed chicken breast meat (MYR 7.50 nett) and a packet of char siew rice at MYR 14.50 nett and dropped them off at my friend's place for her lunch.

Walked to the back row of shops, to this Aunty Melon eatery and bought food as takeaways. I have eaten at this place once in Feb 2020.

There was only one table occupied - a mother with two boys about 8 years old dining in.

We ordered:

Bittergourd ribs with rice at MYR 11 nett (I ate this dish last time).

Ginger duck with rice at MYR 13 nett.

Pepper pork stomach soup at MYR 7 nett.

Containers at MYR 1 nett so total price is MYR 32 nett.

6.20 pm - for dinner we shared the pork stomach pepper soup with the two portions of rice (because they put two portions of rice into one container) and the bitter gourd ribs. Kept the ginger duck for the next day. The above is the portion kept for me.

I scooped the rice into the bitter gourd ribs container to soak up all the gravy. This is an exception case of me eating rice for dinner. In the morning at 9.30 am, I ate 3 slices of gardenia wholemeal bread with kaya. I was hungry at 11 pm due to eating too much food during the day but I just drink water and go to sleep.

Takeaway food from prosperity bowl: 1 portion chicken breast meat at MYR 7.50 nett and 1 portion of char siew (BBQ pork) rice at MYR 14.50 nett. The rice is the chicken rice so it is tasty on its own without the sauce from the char siew. The char siew is 80% fats because I believe it is pork belly. As for the chicken breast meat, I was told that it was quite tough. I find that surprising because the chicken breast meat I ate in the shop itself was not tough. I guess each chicken has different meat texture.

I bought takeaway for my friend after reading this article dated 2 July 2014 that was hanging on the wall.